The First Day Shoe Fund is a really neat idea — so simple, so tangible, and so brilliant, it’s a bit of wonder that it was only founded in 2006.

Denghel was volunteering at Edison Environmental Academy when she repeatedly met children with worn-out shoes, or shoes held together with rubber bands.

“Shoes are a necessity that parents are sometimes unable to provide, not because they don’t want to, but because they have to worry about paying for bills and food,” Denghel told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette when she won the STAR Award in 2012.

“Having decent shoes helps with students’ self-esteem,” she added. “It allows them to play sports and spend more time out with their friends.”

It is a premise that all too many of us take for granted. A new school year comes around and we get the kids new clothes and, of course, new shoes.

It’s not quite that simple for far too many people in our community, as evidenced by the growth of the First Day Shoe Fund.

In its first year in 2006, about 300 pairs of shoes were given out to students in Kalamazoo Public Schools who qualified for subsidized lunch. This year, about 2,700 will be distributed, and the organization is starting to branch beyond KPS.